Sunday, 6 July 2014

How TV stations, govt, cinema houses undermine Nollywood, by Ugbomah

By Anote Ajeluorou

Passion for the movie industry runs in his blood. Even as he
turns 73 in August and will celebrate it big with major events, Chief Eddie
Ugbomah is still untiring in his drive to get the movie environment better for
younger practitioners to excel and be rewarded for their art. Out of over 10
children, only one of them, just 13, has shown interest in studying and making
a career out of filmmaking. This gives the Aboh, Delta native uncommon joy and
renewed incentive to fight harder to get the industry better.

Always ahead of his
younger colleagues in the industry, self-styled father of Nollywood and Board of Trustee chairman for Directors Guild of
Nigeria (DGN) and Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Ugbomah is again up in
arms against those he perceived to be enemies of Nollywood. First on his list of those ruining the fortunes of
filmmakers are Nigeria’s terrestrial TV stations that shameless broadcast old
soap operas imported from Mexico and Brazil.

Ugbomah’s contention
is that TV stations, by their very nature, ought to commission film producers
to make soaps operas for them. Instead, what is prevalent in the country is not
just the reverse, but a dangerous, colonial trend where cheap South American
soaps flood Nigeria’s terrestrial airways. The dire economic implication is
that while Nigerian producers are starved of jobs and income from lack of
commissioned projects, Nigerian products finance foreign films through
advertisement placements on terrestrial TV.

According to
Ugbomah, there are some 123,000 such soap operas called Tele Monde on Nigerian TV stations, each with 1,000 episodes. This
dangerous economic and cultural sabotage, Ugbomah noted, is grave disservice,
as it renders local producers and actors largely unemployed. Besides, the
cultural colonialism effect of such imported soaps have on young minds, he said
are immense, adding that it shows a marked insensitivity and ignorance of the
power of television in molding a society’s consciousness.

For Ugbomah, it’s
time to wield the big stick to rein in these erring stations so as to preserve
the values. He called on relevant regulatory authorizes, especially Nigeria
Broadcasting Commission (NBC) to step up and protect local jobs for filmmakers
and preserve local cultural values being threatened by the influx of foreign
soaps.

He said, “Let’s get
parliament to ban foreign films on our Tv stations. Any film being put on
Nigerian airwaves should be censored first”.

Closely related to
this development, Ugbomah stated, is the activities of cable TV stations,
particularly the South African brand. He particularly accused South Africa
cable TV with its three platforms as being the worse culprit. Ugbomah said the station
was out to destroy Nollywood, as it
was envious of its phenomenal growth. He faulted the station’s pricing of films
from N350,000 to a paltry N35,000, and wondered what justification it has for
doing so. Also, instead of showing one film thrice a year, they show a film
three times a day!

For Ugbomah, who has
plied his film trade in the U.K. and the U.S., this was a calculated plan by
the South African cable company to “kill Nollywood
by introducing their multiple channels; they have come with their bazookas to
kill us. South African is envious of the big name of Nollywood. I’m anti-them; I refused to give them my film. They
started by paying N350,000 per film; now, they pay N35,000, and to get your
money is wahala. They show films more
than three times a year!”

Also, Ugbomah has
charged cinema owners to give ample space to locally produced films as against
current practices where foreign films take the lion share of cinema exposures.
He complained that such practice was a gross disservice to locally produced
films and filmmakers. He also called on relevant authorities to rein in cinema
owners to do proper parity of films shown. Giving local films equal space at
cinemas, was Ugbomah’s contention, would help revive the sector from its
comatose position.

Ugbomah is not happy
with government’s plans to downgrade Nigeria Film and Video Censors Board to a
mere department on one hand while commercialising Nigeria Film Corporation
(NFC) on the other. The septuagenarian said the film sector is too crucial to
be treated as mere commercial interest, as the offices of Minister of
Information and Secretary to the Federal Government were trying to do with the
only two agencies responsible for film. He said plans for the two agencies must
go to the National Assembly, as acts setting them up were acts of parliament,
which Steve Oronsanye’s recommendation alone could not alter.

Reducing censors
board to a department in invitation to strengthen the 36 states’ censors
boards, a situation that amounts to more than double taxation on fimmakers, as
each film would be censored in 36 states, which would impact negatively on the already
fragile income of filmmakers. He charged his industry colleagues to act now by
taking the case to the National Assembly to forestall the planned action on the
two agencies.

He seasoned
filmmaker took a swipe at his younger colleagues for their nonchalant attitudes
to issues affecting the industry. Only a handful turned up for the press
briefing dealing with issues affecting their trade. Ugbomah noted, “I’m
fighting for the industry. My daughter is, 13, wants to read film. The
environment has to be made right for her. There’s individual satisfaction among
the top directors, producers and actors; so, they forget the industry. But in
my position of chairman of two guilds and an elder, I cannot keep quiet or
watch while a goat in giving birth in tethers”.

FRUSTRATED by the levity with which Lagos State Government
treated his planned Nollywood Film
Village, after having spent all his life in this city Ugbomah has taken his
golden idea to his him state, Delta, and has got the nod of the state’s Chief
Executive, Dr. Emmanuel Uduaghan through a publisher friend of his. Now, Ugbomah
declared, “I’m going back to my Delta!” Right now, he is waiting for his
Hollywood counterpart investors, Califo Nigeria Limited, to get the ball
rolling.

The film village, according
to Ugbomah, will be tourism city complete with film and music studios, a hotel,
theatres, a shopping mall, cinemas and everything that makes for a proper film
village that will cater for film production and entertainment. It is estimated
that from 1000 to 5000 will be employed during construction and when in full
operation.

The probability of
Delta, possibly the state capital, Asaba, being a viable site for Nollywood Film Village is high, in
Ugbomah and chairman, Film and Video Producers and Marketers Association of
Nigeria (FVPMA), Nobert Ajaegbo’s estimation. Ajaegbo said Asaba has since
overtaken Lagos and Enugu as hubs for moviemaking in the country, adding, “Film
output from Asaba alone is about 60/70 per cent; it will be very good location
to site a film village”.

UGBOMAH also took time to lend his voice to the controversy
trailing Half of a Yellow Sun film,
saying, certain aspects of the film should indeed be removed because of the
sensitivity issues they raise. He, however noted that the controversy was
uncalled for, as it was affecting investors’ confidence in coming to do
business in the country’s film industry.

According to him, “Half of a Yellow Sun dispute is
affecting investors. I support the film, but there are some scenes that
shouldn’t be shown because of the sentiments they could provoke, especially at
this time of security alertness. If the producers of the film didn’t look down
on Nollywood, they should have cried
to the industry guilds and we would have intervened. It has happened before.
Chiwetel Ejiofor sees himself as being more British than Nigerian. The
producers ought to have understood that a film is more political than
entertainment; so, it’s truth should be politically correct. America failed in
Vietnam, but Hollywood’s films about that war portrays America as the victorious
side; that’s film politics!

“Nollywood should form a string council
to confront government on Half of a Yellow
Sun. if the filmmaker didn’t look down on Nollywood, things should have been different”.